Christmas is the perfect time to start from scratch

Lieutenant Sully Jax saved his unit during an IED attack, but he couldn’t save his marriage. He can’t even remember it. Recovered from his injuries, he’s come home to the family and friends he knows—and an ex-wife who’s a stranger to him.

Lucy Crabtree was heartbroken last Christmas when Sully announced his plan to go on one last tour of duty, and devastated when he asked for a divorce after he awoke in the hospital with no memory of her. She’s finally moving on from her hurt and from losing the man she loved more than anything, and her cookie-baking business is taking off just in time for the holidays. But now Sully’s back, and she can’t deny she still loves him. But how can she trust her heart to someone who breaks it every time she sees him?

Sully might not remember Lucy, but something inside won’t let her go. With every bite of her cookies, he finds a new love for Lucy, and he soon realizes he wants to rebuild his life…with her by his side.

I’d forgotten how much I liked Gail’s writing until I started this book. Actually, I should say I realized how much I liked Gail’s writing as I got into Starting From Scratch only to find out when I was done that she’d also written Ugly Ducklings Finish First, which I adored. One of the problems with reading so many stories is that it is very hard to keep all of them straight. I can always tell you when I like a particular story, and usually why, but I’m occasionally surprised to realize that I’m not reading an author for the first time.

Starting From Scratch pulled me in immediately and I absolutely couldn’t put it down. Luckily it was a novella, so at less than 100 pages it didn’t take me long to read it, but since I wasn’t stopping until I was done that’s definitely a good thing. I felt for both Sully and Lucy, and it was so hard to watch them have to battle their feelings, their fears and their hurts, and figure out how to deal with each other. Each has such a unique and heartbreaking problem and it’s so hard to watch them have to battle themselves and one another as they try to find a way to live in the same town now that their life together is gone. It’s a devastating thing but one that Gail handles in a very intriguing way.

Lucy has to handle the struggle of figuring out how to deal with a man who doesn’t know her, while she remembers a relationship that can no longer be. Sully feels drawn to Lucy but there is so much anxiety mixed in with his attraction that he can’t grasp onto it all. We get both of their points of view, which makes it so easy to understand where each is coming from, but it’s so hard for each to understand the other while dealing with their own pain and confusion.

It’s an emotionally difficult book, one that made me both happy and weepy, but when it was over I definitely was glad I’d gone on the journey with them. Readers need to make sure they check out Gail’s website for the deleted scenes from the book, because they add a little extra to an already heartwarming book.